St Patrick's Athletic -v- Galway United

St Patrick's Athletic will be looking to bounce back from Friday's 3-0 loss to Cobh Ramblers when Galway United travel to Richmond Park tonight, kick-off 7.45pm.

This eircom Premier Division game was originally supposed to take place on 5 September but was postponed due to heavy rain.

The Saints have Derek O'Brien back from suspension and goalkeeper Barry Ryan is expected to overcome a back complaint he incurred against Cobh to take his place between the posts.

Pat's will have to do without top scorer Mark Quigley who is suffering with 'flu as he joins a long missing list that also includes Des Byrne (hamstring), Damien Lynch (ankle), David Partridge (shoulder), Bobby Ryan (knee), Stephen Paisley (groin) Gary O'Neill (groin) and John Murphy (back).

Bohemians may already have the league title wrapped up, but Pat's manager John McDonnell will want his side to regain some form before they face the Gypsies in a FAI Cup semi-final on Friday week.

And McDonnell knows that Galway will be going all out to secure three points to boost their chances of avoiding the drop.

McDonnell said: 'Like Cobh, Galway will be coming here scrapping for every ball and it will be a tough game for us.'

He added: 'Friday's match was easily our worst game of the season. If every team is entitled to one bad day in a season then I'd definitely like to think we've had ours.

'The conditions were awful, things that could go wrong did but that's not taking away from Cobh who deserve full credit for their win.

'We didn't play well but Galway will be another game and another chance to put three more points on the board.'

Galway have gone six games unbeaten thanks to the Jay O'Shea penalty that earned them a point in their Connacht derby against Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds on Saturday night.

O'Shea will be missing due to international commitments with the Republic of Ireland U-21s, but manager Jeff Kenna will have Jonathan Keane to call on again.

Kenna accepted his side were lucky to take anything away from Sligo, but is now calling on his charges to make the most of their good fortune.

Kenna said: 'Based on the performance last Saturday I'm reasonably happy with getting the point as we rode our luck on a few occasions.'

He added: 'The team are well aware that St Pat's will be up for the game after their heavy defeat to Cobh Ramblers it's a big opportunity for us to keep climbing towards safety.'